The Chautauqua Robot

We report today on how Upstate New York is spending millions in grants from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. You’ll be relieved to know that Albany got more than twice as much security funding, per capita, as New York City this year.

Favorite quotes:
“If it’s the federal government asking me, it is for the intended purpose of W.M.D. incidents and HazMat incidents,” said Jeffrey Harloff, Ontario County emergency management official, who’s buying a mobile command center. “In reality, we’re going to use it for everyday stuff in our office.”

“It just seems like a tremendous waste of funding,” said Lyle Jones of Jeffereson County, which couldn’t figure out how to spend the money.